BELEAGUERED dairy farmers across the North have been hit with another body blow after a leading buyer said it would delay payments to producers.

First Milk, a co-operative owned by British farmers, blamed the move on a dramatic fall in the price of milk following a "year of volatility that has never been seen before" in the industry.

Its chairman, Conservative MP Sir Jim Paice, said it will delay payments to farmers by two weeks and all subsequent payments by a fortnight.

Dairy farmers are already struggling from recent price falls which means milk in supermarkets is now cheaper than bottled water - leading to many producers making a loss or quitting the industry.

The number of dairy farmers in England and Wales has halved in just over a decade with 60 farmers giving up producing milk in December alone – a rate which will see fewer than 5,000 dairy farmers left by 2025, the National Farmers Union (NFU) said.

Rob Harrison, NFU dairy board chairman, added: “Being a dairy farmer at the moment is like being a boxer - on the ropes and taking body blow after body blow – there’s only so much you can take before throwing in the towel.

“I, like my colleagues on the NFU dairy board, are completely appalled by the ongoing price cuts crippling our industry and we are working hard to support our members and their businesses in every way we can.

“Despite the grief many dairy farmers are facing, it’s heartening that the British public is still supporting us. Eighty-six per cent of people tell us they want to buy more British products.

"They can back British dairy farmers by continuing to buy British milk, but also by buying more British cheese, yoghurt and butter.

"If you can’t find it easily on shelves let the NFU know and ask for it from your retailer. Looking out for the Red Tractor is the easiest way to ensure you are buying food that can be traced back to the farms on which it was produced.”

Mr Paice said: "The board are acutely aware of the difficulties this current extreme volatility is causing First Milk members and the UK dairy industry.

"We don't know how long this current market downturn will last, and we are aware that hundreds of UK dairy farmers are unlikely to find a home for their milk this spring.

"Our priority is to make the business and our processing assets as secure as possible in order that we can continue to process and market every litre of our members' milk."

He added that the move will put the business on a "stronger platform" ahead of the spring.

The woes faced by the dairy industry have been attributed by large milk buyers to global commodity prices: farmers worldwide are producing more milk, while at the same time demand, particularly in China, is falling. The Russian import ban has also had an impact, as have supermarkets competing over lower prices.

Dairy farmers argue that they should be immune from global price cuts as more than 80 per cent of the milk produced by UK farmers is used in this country.

National Farmers' Union president Meurig Raymond warned that dairy farmers were "haemorrhaging money" and called for supermarkets to do more to back British suppliers.

He added: "Back dairy farming at this time, otherwise we are going to be importing a lot more milk in the future."